LOVE POTION #9

[metamods]

LOVE POTION #9

LOVE IS... not in the air! The reintroduction of Confluences into this world has left it rocked, so the season of love is not quite as lovey-dovey as it usually is. People are stressed and anxious. Valentine's events are being cancelled left, right, and center in fear that a Confluence may catch young lovers unawares.

Unbeknownst to mortals, the God of Love really can't afford his month to be ruined by a few little dimensional catastrophes. This is his month! ... And for whatever reason, he seems to be stranded on the Earthly plane.

Surely he can fix things. Push it along a little. Though Gods don't usually meddle in mortal affairs, this is a personal catastrophe. All it takes is a few drops of love potion on a token of affection, and voila! Instant-connection.

(This event has a blanket warning for dubious consent of the love spell variety. To opt out completely, characters can simply not be in Sunset Falls at the time of the event, which runs through Valentine's Day.)

WHITE HEARTS FESTIVAL

Welcome to Sunset Falls, the most magical place in all of America! Literally. The streets are charged with magical energies, and while it won't be spinning your words into spells, it will give anyone who is magically inclined a comfortable little buzz. Maybe it's the boost you need to get a spell working, or maybe it's just a pep in your step. Confluence-displaced metas who take the Guilds up on their offer to tour the new housing will arrive just in time to witness the an annual tradition: The White Hearts Festival, a festival dedicated to all forms of love - familial, friendship, and romantic.

The whole town is decked out in pinks, golds and reds. Town square has been overtaken by food booths peddling elaborate meals and desserts with various magical effects. (It's probably better not to ask why some of the cookies being handed out are in the shape of anatomical hearts.)

• Eat an emoji cookie and find yourself sprouting heart-eyes, or gaining a flurry of hearts above your head.


• The Bolder Biscuit - by far and above the densest thing you've ever tried to eat - makes you bold. It compels you to march right up to someone and tell them what you think, good or bad.


• And there's also the Firework Delight cake, which makes you shoot off literal fireworks the moment you touch that special someone that makes your life complete... but honestly, they go off when you touch anyone. Sorry if you end up giving off the wrong impression!

In addition, pop-up craft stands sell trinkets that guarantee you'll be together with your people forever and ever. The most popular item on sale this year appears to be the Eternal Bond - which is just an enchanted finger-trap that refuses to let go unless you tell someone a deep dark secret.

There is an altar at the town park where you can make your offering and give prayers to the God of Love in hopes he will smile favorable upon you. Lay your chocolate heart at its base and offer up a prayer to the God so that your life will be full of love and connection.

Truthfully, when it started it wasn't as cutesy as it is now. It became a lot more wholesome when people began to offer only chocolate hearts to the God of Love. Now it's fun for the whole family! ... So long as you don't veer into the woods. Some people still practice the old ways, and there are (what you hope to be) animal hearts nailed to trees. This is Sunset Falls, after all. Weird often goes hand in hand with terror.

LONELY HEARTS

For those of you who don't yet have those special people, lonely hearts still single can collect white rose enamel pins from the festival committee. They're expected to pick someone to give it out to as a declaration of their attraction by the end of the festival. However... there seems to be an issue this year. There's more pins here than there are people in town. Committee members start handing them out to anyone, single or not, and from there that's where things start to get a little weird...

You clip the pin onto your shirt and at once, your life has suddenly become a romcom. Everything is just a little brighter, the sounds a little more musical (sometimes literally), and you're suddenly compelled to reach out and find connection.

And the universe is conspiring to bring it your way! Cliches won't stop happening around you. Suddenly people are determined to give you a makeover so you can catch the eye of an admirer. Your friends are betting on your romantic future. A complex love triangle is springing out of previously platonic friendships.

You're not not limited to one partner, and that partner doesn't need to be romantic. It could be a best friend, or a nemesis that you're compelled to fight over and over again for the joy of it. What matters is the connection and the way the world seems to stop at nothing to give you that perfect three act structure: You Meet, You Lose, You Get.

Reach the end of your romcom's little arc and you'll find yourself freed from the spell... and probably will have some choice words for its caster.

HEARTS ON FIRE

Regardless of how you participate in the festival, everyone is at risk when the town itself falls under a love spell.

This may be unlike anything you've known before. Perhaps it's the first stumbling steps of puppy love. You want to be with this person all the time. Hold their hands and work up the courage for a kiss. Or perhaps this is something fierce and passionate. You want to be kissing them always, pursuing these passions heedless of consequences.

This doesn't need to be a romantic love. It can be strong and familial. Perhaps the sort you've always desired but never had. You could fall into a family unit with others affected by the spell. Compelled to hug each other and say words of encouragement or praise. Perhaps you, while living your own love story, are the best friend in someone else's - offering up the speech that tells them they deserve more than they think they do.

Whatever your flavor of love may be, you're prone to dramatic declarations. Confessions at the drop of a hat. It's go big or go home, and since nobody's going home right now, you might as well go as big as you can. Perhaps you're arranging for Flash Mobs to declare your feelings! Or making plans to move in together despite only having met a few hours ago.

This is all fine and well at first, but it may become clear pretty quickly that characters who try to hold their burning passions are likely to burn themselves! If you're the repressed type and you try to resist the compulsions that the love spell puts on you, you might just burst into flames, and someone will need to put you out. Don't worry — move quick enough, and there won't be any lasting damage, and if there is, the Guilds' healers can help you out.

MEET CUTE-PID

For those paying attention to that sort of thing, one constant of all these wild declarations can be spotted in the background. A tall man with curly blonde hair and an all too charming smile never seems to be far from the romance.

Those who are curious enough to follow will find he retreats to a lavish mansion on the outskirts of town. The mansion has the gaudy and abundant decor of a honeymoon suite on the Las Vegas Strip, with lights attuned to music and a massive twirling heart above the roof of the building. Peer inside and you will see hundreds of tiny viewing windows, each depicting a different romantic story unfolding outside of town. The door to the mansion appears to be locked tight and the windows are magically sealed, but some quick thinking may get you inside.

If anyone wants to engage him, HERE is a top level where we will summarize encounters. The more PCs involved in an encounter, the bigger its outcome will be. We will determine the impact on the god of love on Valentine's Day, so get your comments in by end of day on the 13th! You may also use this top level to ask event-specific questions about the effects on this page! (Please refer general questions about the setting to the FAQ, and refer any player plots to the PLOTTING page.)

Comments

[kid_flash_found]

"You want me to be even more of a distraction while running? I'd hate to snarl traffic."

[helpdesk_hero]

"Bart," David said, reaching to cup the guy's face in his hands. "Sometimes you need to slow down if you expect people to catch you."

[kid_flash_found]

Bart sighs, starting to draw back then stopping. "You're assuming anyone would want to try."

[portolan]

[ Balthier loves deep philosophical conversation and would be delighted to know he's hitting a place David doesn't always get to go. He's certainly been accused of thinking too much before, though it's never stopped him. ]

So essentially in a theory of knowledge model, you can access the literal knowledge, fact, and muscle knowledge but not the reasoning. In your ballet example, you could borrow the choreography of an existing dance and the physical ability to do it. Could you immediately iterate a dance, as that's more application or creative based, or would you need to work at synthesizing your own ability? Maybe food is more straight-forward. Can you read the skill of creating a new dish? I would presume that's partially skill and partially creativity and agency of the original mind. Does your power differentiate? The idea that it's only accessing certain brain processes certainly makes sense.

Cooking is a delight. I'm an alright chef but I deeply enjoy cuisine. I'm familiar with the concept of figure skating but I've never been -- I tended to stay in warmer climates. You'll have to show me sometime.

[kindofamazing]

Would it come as a massive shock to hear I didn't exactly Major in Classics?

[It's his own attempt to keep things as even as possible, have a little dig at himself for not knowing more of the myths Loki speaks of or the horrors he's endured as the pad of Peter's spandexed thumb strokes lightly across Loki's knuckle--a part that seems at least comparatively less marred by burns.]

And are you kidding? I mean, I'm not convinced it's possible for you to be ugly. Even if you're a little char-grilled. Like, have you ever seen a well-cooked steak? That's probably one of the best-looking things I've ever seen.

[ ... Not helped, Parker. Not. Helping.]

... Not that I'm saying you look like a steak. Not even a well-done steak. You don't look like any steak at all. I'm just-- yeah. I'm going to shut up now, you've endured enough for me without putting up with me.

[ikols]

I'm a steak.

[ He laughs and gasps in pain, but the smile remains, hissing it out to try and calm down from laughing. His hand in Peter's gives a fond squeeze and he blinks up with affection brimming over in his red-rimmed eyes. ]

It's dangerously easy ... to adore you, Peter Parker.

[kindofamazing]

Don't laugh!

[You know, part-panic, part-amusement (sorry, Loki!), with a smile that's equal parts warm and worried about this entire thing.]

You're supposed to be like 'I'm not a piece of meat, Peter Parker!' Or at least tell me you're, I dunno, the best, most marbled filet mignon you ever did see! I don't eat a lot of steak. I don't really know what I'm talking about.

[ikols]

You're very sweet to me.

[ He closes his eyes, settling his breathing as his lungs twinge. ]

I don't deserve you.

[helpdesk_hero]

[David's grinning between sips of his tea while Balthier talks.]

You and I are going to need weekly discussions at this rate. Do you have any idea how much I've longed for someone to talk to like this? You're brilliant, Balthier, and the way you think about things is familiar but refreshing.

[He missed Jane Foster because she asked things like this sometimes.]

Okay, yes, I can iterate the dance, and I theoretically could synthesize, but what I get can't impart creativity itself. I don't have the spark for creativity in a lot of fields. So let's actually look at it as a comparison to music instead of cooking as a starting point. Say I was to acquire the skills to play a certain instrument from someone, and let's go for obscure for my world. I pick up how to play a lute. I don't have the creative spark myself to make new pieces of lute music. But I can synthesize from principles and pieces I know from other instruments. I could iterate a piece of piano music to the lute or lute to the piano, because that relies a lot on theory, rather than full on creativity. Will it sound as good as someone who has a creative spark doing an adaptation? No. But it will sound true.

Cooking? That I do have a creative spark for on my own. While I do work with recipes, and sometimes even pick up new recipes from people who just KNOW how to do certain things, I bring my own experiences, preferences, creativity, and even the mindfulness of who my audience is into play to create something new, or adapt something old. I can even make a new dish, but again, that's a spark in myself mixing with the absorbed skill of cooking from my father, and years of practice. With technology, where I'm actually just a prodigy and capable of great intuitive leaps of my own, I can go further. These glasses I made by hand, and they're pretty advanced for my world. Put me in a room with other great tech minds and honestly, I'd probably become one of the best tech minds of several generations.

[Hopefully that explains it all.]

I've got to warn you, I tend to cook for my friends. So you better just be forthright and start thinking about what you like, what your allergies are, and when you're going to draw a line to tell me to stop cooking for you. Just don't expect baked goods. I'm terrible with those. That I lack the talent for.

[The figure skating leaves David flustered for a moment. The guy didn't even seem bothered that it was something David was a) somehow missing, b) planning on stealing back from someone, and c) that he was working with a god to do it. Damn, he could like this guy. But what really leaves him flustered was thinking back. He'd only ever shown his skating prowess to one person before and the memories of that day were... Well, not for public consumption.]

Maybe I will sometime.

[ikols]

[ Loki sinks his teeth hard into the curve of David's neck, turning them on the spot so that David is the one trapped up against the back of the wooden stall, ground there by the urgent sway of Loki's hips. He rakes his nails across an ass, hand buried in David's trousers, and the way he nuzzles his way to the opposite side of that neck isn't without a plethora of cold kisses, scraping his canines all the way to a heartbeat, and it's all to give David exactly what he wants.

Loki's free hand strokes around David's cock from base to tip, smearing around precome to work it down him in tight pulls, over and over, hot and insistent. ]

Then come for me, David. All for me.

[portolan]

[ Balthier is wearing a smile of his own at David's grin and enthusiastic conversation. ] You will clearly have to drag me kicking and screaming to any such discussions. I think this is the first time I've been called brilliant by a certified genius. [ The only person in his life who came close to that was his father, and he was both nowhere near as intelligent as David and also too much of a narcissist to give anything but backhanded compliments. ]

I have been blessed with no food allergies and an adventurous palette. I look forward to our extravagant meals, which I will gladly provide extravagant tableware for.

[ Balthier has seen a lot of weird things. He's not particularly worried about the details if the underlying reasoning makes sense to him, though the idea of losing something of yourself certainly sounds unappealing. Since there is a chance to get it back, though, he presumes David will figure that out. ]

Speaking of, you asked about the Strahl, which had three excellent full service sets of tableware and one of the best collections of wine in Ivalice. Ah, I hope someone is enjoying that in my absence.

She was originally a military prototype. My father worked on her. Client turned her down -- too expensive. She has a collapsible dual wing structure that allows for greater speed and maneuverability, though does require more upkeep. I may have liberated her to escape the city and taint my father's career. Healthy teenage rebellion.

She's a medium sized ship -- can hold a crew of 6-10, takes two to man her. Full dining and sleeping quarters. Upgraded her over the years for both systems and luxury. Kept some of my favorite antiques and books onboard. We were countryless and lived everywhere -- open invitation in almost every port in and out of the empire.

I expect my technical expertise is quite different from yours. We don't have computers in the same way -- our technology runs heavily on the Mist, which is a sort of life or energy force that runs through everything in our world. Using magick is channeling the Mist. The Strahl ran on that as a power source. Fran and I built a lot of tuners and blockers, though. It can be easy to override the system in flares or lose power in lower areas. Built a cloaking device for her -- that came in handy more than once. I modded the bike I have too -- two seats, extremely fast. That made it through with me, at least.

[ He gets a sheen to his eyes thinking about his ship, about Fran. He hopes Vaan is taking decent care of it. Penelo will keep him in line. He wonders if Fran has stayed with them, or gone her own way. ]

[helpdesk_hero]

Clearly you haven't known the right certified geniuses in your life. I'm glad to help correct that.

[Extravagant tableware? Balthier was going to get himself talked into helping David host a proper, small, multi-course meal for friends some day. It was absolutely going to happen.]

I warn you, I like wine, but I'm not a sommelier. Don't have the nose for it. But I am decent at pairings. Hopefully that will meet any standards you have.

As for the Strahl, I'm also sad not to see her. She sounds truly beautiful, and I admit, there's something truly romantic about living in the sky as a concept. Though I suppose I should feel blessed because back home I live on a tropical paradise island, so we all get our little wonders we get to miss. I also REALLY wish I could get my hands on her engine. I want to know what it feels like to my other power, and to see what the ship as a whole feels about you.

[helpdesk_hero]

[It is exactly what he wants. The bite earns not only a gasp, but a snap of David's hips, seeking friction to reinforce the pleasure that came from the force of that bite. It would leave a mark, and in the moment he thinks he's going to love to see that later, the reminder of the sting of this, and the claim.

Some part of his mind says he needs to keep quiet so they aren't caught, and that part of mind manages to get David's hand up over his mouth to muffle the moans that Loki was absolutely tearing from him. Which of course meant there was another hand that was free to deal with things, and it found its way to Loki's pants to slither under them. He just wanted to feel Loki in his own hand, and his fingers are eager to cup at Loki's own length, palming over it even as his own hips rolled with Loki's quick working of David's own length.

He was burning inside, close to being overwhelmed by it, but dammit David was desperate not to come just yet. He wanted just a bit more. To linger just a bit longer. Sadly his wish to last couldn't overwhelm the curl of those words, or the talent of Loki's fingers. Loki's name is a muffled moan as David does just what he's told, his body a tense bow from his pleasure as he came.]

[portolan]

[ Balthier will in no way protest helping host a fancy dinner party. ]

I’ve a nose for wine and an excellent palette though I have my work cut out for me here. It’s both invigorating and disorienting to have my knowledge suddenly have holes in it. Ingredients and labels aren’t the same but the principal remains. And I have a habit of leading so it gives me something to do while leaving you to your expertise. [ He did not miss that David likes having someone else to lead and that suits Balthier extremely well. ]

Now you have me intrigued again on your abilities. Truly a shame I can’t show you the Strahl but I’d be curious what you saw on the hovbike especially given something about the confluence changed it’s mechanism — I can’t access the Mist here and neither can it.

Living in the sky is wonderful, though. I’m finding myself reluctant to choose somewhere to live.

[helpdesk_hero]

[He's done leadership before. To say he'd fucked it up a lot and come to realize he was a great second, well, it would be an understatement. For now he's definitely considering what sorts of complicated foods he could work with here. Damian was the only person he'd cooked for before that had a complicated, aristocratic palette. Getting to challenge himself at that level of cooking was going to be a delight. Plus it could occupy his mind when he needed distracting.]

I will happily see the bike sometime if you want. Especially if you're going to need to be aware of what changes it's got going on here. Because I don't even know what the Mist is, so that it's changed isn't a surprise.

[Ah, choosing somewhere to live. David sighs.]

I'm having trouble too. I'm worried about surveillance. I'm actually considering going to scout the cities they've suggested. From the initial pitch, Excelsior sounds like my sort of place, but I'm worried about being monitored too much, so I've got some looking into it to do.

[ikols]

[ Working David through his orgasm is the most important thing to Loki in those moments, serving him feels like the pinnacle of his entire reason for being. He's always wanted this, David in his arms as he falls apart so beautifully, at a loss for words with Loki bearing over him, but it's the force of those feelings that grinds so harshly over the common-sense he strictly adheres to in his usual every-day life in a bid not to hurt people that makes something in his head twitch. It's true Loki is a hedonist and does what he wants, but he never wants to be a fool about it and end up hurting people ... literally or figuratively.

He drops his forehead to David's shoulder to catch his breath, letting him ride out his orgasm before taking him by the wrists and pinning them beside David's head as Loki tries to shake off the record-scratching in his mind. A spell saturating his very blood as it tries to buck its influence off.

David is important. Loki cares about him, so he grits his teeth and fights inside his own head. Gods, but his skin starts to feel so hot ... ]

[helpdesk_hero]

[What a moment. David was still high on all those feel good chemicals in his brain. What was more, the spell was leaving him all the more pleased with the situation, making this one of the best experiences of his life. He was left panting there, pinned by the stronger man, shivering from the exertion. Helped that Loki's fingers were a little slick from David's orgasm, because that kept his heart racing at the reminder.

But the silence was a concern as he shivered there in thought. No possessive comments in his ear? No demands that David serve to pleasure him next? That was confusing.]

Loki, love, are you okay?

[ikols]

I don't know.

[ He breaks away a few steps, fixing his clothes as he keeps forcing his heavy, lead-like legs to take him off of David. Half his mind screams at him to touch him, touch him some more, love him, he will love you for it so much as the other half roars like white noise. ]

I — [ It feels like a glitch in his brain, twitching it from side to side. ] I don't — know.

[helpdesk_hero]

[Strange, but he in the moment has such a firm belief that Loki should and would know himself, his mind, his will. This isn't something that a David under the spell and so completely and unquestionably in love with Loki could fathom. Of course, as Loki said, he could never understand Loki. Nor, in this state, did he care to try to. This was what the spell needed him to be to have Loki, so this was what he is.

Still, even through the spell some glimmer of himself makes David slowly straighten himself up. Decency mattered in this moment. It definitely took some effort, but once he was theoretically presentable (his clothes so horribly rumpled and not at all the normal order of composed David), he moved forward to touch Loki's arm. Which wasn't enough. He placed a hand along the man's cheek as well.]

If you don't know, then you're not. Tell me how to help.

[ikols]

Don't.

[ Hissing, he slaps away the touches and stumbles back in shock, holding his head as he sways on the spot. There's so much magic in the air, he can't breathe, and David is so tempting ...

Isn't he already Loki's? They are in love, aren't they? So why. Why do I feel like my skull is splitting in half? ]

I can't be around you. [ That's as much as he can rationalise, subsumed in the clutches of a spell rapidly taking back over and forcing him to lean toward David again. The things Loki want to do to him ... ] I — I can't!

[ In a panic, he teleports away elsewhere in the festival, leaving stirred leaves and a green flash of light in his wake, and David alone. But safe, whispers a voice in the back of Loki's head before he ceases to think all over again. ]

Tempted to have David message Loki as a 'trying to apologize the next day' thing.

[helpdesk_hero]

[Oh the things David would have let Loki do in that moment, had he only leaned in to claim David as his love once more. Instead there he was, leaving David reeling and confused over the outburst. Over the jerking away. Over the burst of light that felt more like a searing accusation and denouncement than some escape for the god.

For a long moment David was left there, tears stinging at his eyes as he reached out for where Loki had been. And then they fell. For a while he stood there crying, because the drama of the spell required it. His heart quietly ached at the loss of something so deep and important. And later he would hate that, be ashamed at the behavior. But that was after the tears faded and he had himself more relaxed, more caught up in the compulsions of this spell again.]

[portolan]

[ Balthier has had the opposite, constantly trying to stay under the radar or as a loner and drifting toward leadership. He’s finally starting to accept that. ]

There’s something deeply calming about Mist and realizing that regardless of status or training or anything else, we are all connected to the same energy. Humbling I think, and also connective. Like reading good literature or seeing good art. A sense of connection well beyond the here and now.

Ah someone rational. I was talking to Peter about the absurdity of carrying around a surveillance device and he seems to think that was entirely responsible. Maybe I’m an old man pirate but I don't particularly care for others being able to find or track me. Another perk of my ship — I was in charge of any surveillance. I’m finding myself leaning toward the city for the access to resources but the surveillance is heavier. Certainly more research to do — that was how I ended up here today. I don’t think I’ll be staying in Sunset Falls. [ Speaking of… he has another appointment with the guild today. He cold blow it off but he’s not particularly keen to do so when he’s hoping they’ll give him both funds and access to starting an antique shop. He’s going to have to get moving soon, loathe as he is to let this afternoon come to an end. ]

[helpdesk_hero]

I admit, I've never felt anything like this Mist then. I wish I had. There's not much in the way of deeply calming experiences for me back home, even when it comes to art. Literature... Well, with my powers, I can't read as much as I want to. I used to love science-fiction books, because it was so speculative and about the very nature of humanity. It got predictive and I got a little too good at tech so it bored me. I miss pleasurable reading.

[Peter, whoever that was, was clearly unwise. But David smirked. He didn't have to worry about it with his issued phone. No, that he could absolutely turn the monitoring off with.]

If you'd like, I could disable any inherent monitoring software and hardware that is in the phone you have. The technopathy allows me to do that. Unless another technopath gets at it or it gets toggled back on by some sort of phishing attack, the way that I can encrypt it should keep you more or less safe from that. But I can let you know what Excelsior is like if you're interested. It seems the most tech focused and so the one I'm most worried about. Little Love is, to my suspicions, the least likely to be heavily monitored. That's the vibe I get from those sorts of Small Town, America places.

[If Balthier needed to get a move on, David wouldn't stop him. He could use some time to think through today, and see if he couldn't escape Sunset Falls before whatever was going on here caught him up again.]

[helpdesk_hero]

"I truly believe they will," David answers with a smile. "You're beautiful, Bart. And a good person."

[kid_flash_found]

"Given the company I keep, I might as well be invisible." Yes, David, he includes you in that crowd.